


Purpose

by titusthemagi



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: AU, Angst, Blood, Eren Is a Little Shit, Fluff, Gore, M/M, Multi, Purpose AU, Reincarnation AU, aot - Freeform, levi likes cleaning, n guts, snk
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-04-17
Updated: 2016-04-17
Packaged: 2018-06-02 17:17:26
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,753
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6575077
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/titusthemagi/pseuds/titusthemagi
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>E remembers nothing of his time as a human, not even his full name. He walks among other spirits in the Afterlife, a place between life and death that harbours souls that die with someone they love, and an unfufilled purpose in life. Immortality is enough for him, so he avoids his Purpose like the plague. Sadly, the afterlife has a price, and meeting his other half may be the only way to remember who, and what he is.</p><p> L has searched everywhere, and is losing hope, again. Can E give up his half-life for his memories, even if It means being reincarnated back to the human world like all other spirits before him.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hey, so I hope you giys like this fanfic, The next chapter will explain alot, but at least you'll get a feel for it in this one. Thanks for reading, and my tumblr is @gameboy-gore I do cosplays and shit.

Bark chips off of the tree I was perched on as I lunge forward into empty air. My Maneuver gear whirrs to life with a start and I quickly shoot two grappling darts and let the wires pull me trough the forest as the sound of the titans' groans fills my ears. One titan is lurking on the path ahead of me, but it doesn't seem to see me yet. Easy, if my gear had more gas. I spend all my time training and now this. I really don't deserve such bad luck but I guess it's my own fault.  
I fly over its head as it snaps at me with strong jaws, then I turn around and shoot the wires into either side of its neck.  
At least it has short hair.  
The older ones have long hair that covers their weak spot, making them that much more of a nuisance. It doesn't matter though, I'll still kill them all.

I look towards Levi and sigh. I have a stupid crush, I know, but I can't help it. Anyways Its not like I'll ever tell him. He means too much to me for that. After all we're basically inseperable and I don't want that to change now.

I dive forward and slice two deep gashes that rip out the entire neck, the part i need to send it toppling. My practice with Levi has really helped me become a better soldier. As the creature starts to fall I jump upwards and land on a large tree branch to take a second and scan my surroundings.

"Eren, you need to move, NOW!" Levi's yell reaches my ears through the forest as I stumble, before jumping off, and picking up speed, flying through the twisting trees. Even his voice is fucking perfect.

Over the past few years we've become sort of a dynamic duo. We almost always train together, which I don't mind. Its really nice having the chance to be around him.  
People have even joked that we're closer than Mikasa and I. It's funny, but I still don't know why he choses to take me, I thought he liked being alone. I'm sure he actually enjoys my company, but he denies it, saying its only his job.

"Captain, I'm low on gas, can we slow down!" I whine. I don't want to run out of gas and be stranded here of all places. Plus, my legs hurt, and we've cleared at least some distance from the titans on our backs.  
"Theres too many here right now, brat. We have to keep going until we can break through." Levi's sharp reply doesn't help the knots in my stomach. We should have been more prepared for an ambush like this. Out of the small squad of seven we brought out, three've already been eaten and we've been separated from the other two.  
We normally don't train in the forests outside the walls in spring, the sap poses a threat to our gear, but this was a mandatory mapping routine. Fuck sap, I should of been more carefull.  
I go to turn slightly by shooting my wires, but they're stuck with thick, cement like goo in their holsters.

Why the fuck does the Captain still seem calm about this. He takes down two titans in front of us, and the rest of the forest path looks clear. We cant even hear the titans behind us anymore. Its pretty lucky there are no abnormals in the group. No we just have to make it back-  
I make to yell at him to stop when I hear a whistle, and the slow sputtering hiss that sounds out my worst nightmare. My maneuver gear's run out of steam.  
Shit shit shit shit shit!  
"Levi! Im gonna fall" I shout, watching as he turns around with his perfect coordination, staring wide eyed. He pulls himself to a tree and barrels towards me with determination plaered on his face.  
Im just barely gliding now, Ill crash down any second.

"No. Keep going." I call out. Why is he coming towards me, he should go on, and get away.  
Uh oh.  
Im falling slowly, but the ground rises too fast for me to register. I brace for impact gritting my teeth. This isn't how I want to die, and If I turn into a titan, the ones following us will know where we are. I cant even say goodbye to anyone. I cant go, not like this, and what about Levi.

I feel an arm roughly grab mine, before I hit the ground, slightly softer than expected, but stars still dot my vision. Well that fucking hurt. Then it all goes black.

I choke out a cough as I come back around, and see Levi hunched over, desperately trying to stop the bleeding from my torso. From the considerable amount of blood on his arms, I've been out for a while.  
Two of my ribs have ripped through my skin, leaving a jarring hole that's bleeding out dark red. A pool of blood drips down the the moss beneath me and unidentifiable organs are poking out from my torn body.  
I realize now, that the hand is still holding mine, and I squeeze it lightly.  
His eyes flicker to me and I see that he's crying.  
What do I do.  
"Hey... d-don't cry captain." I moan out, reaching up my free hand to rub his cheek.Slowly he lowers his chin, and presses his face closer to my hand.  
"You brat, you're not allowed to die, th-thats an order." I can tell he's struggling to speak and It tears me apart more than my injuries. Ive never seen him this distraught.

"I wont... I promise." Its a groggy whisper as blood trickles down the corners of my mouth and sharp pain blinds my senses. I gesture to the jagged scar of hundreds of bite marks on my hand.

His eyes widen and his jaw starts to tremble. "No. N-no, no! You cant do that Eren."  
"My injuries aren't going to heal fast enough anyway..."  
"Just....Wait." Levi whimpers.  
I look up confused, and numb, to see him moving to lay down next to me.  
"We have some time left, before they get here."  
"You can get away."  
"I don''t have enough gas."  
"You have to try" I choke out.  
There's a deep hitched breath before he whispers.  
"I don't want to leave you here, just shut up..."

"Levi"  
"Yes Eren."  
"We're not going to see the sea, are we..."  
silence. Levi's chest heaves and he turn sideways to face me. I meet him by turning my head.  
He seems pained as If he can't decide what to say.  
"I see It every day in your eyes, brat." He chokes out.  
"You're a dork, cap...tain."  
a small sad smile.  
"I think th-thats why I lov-love you." I'm afraid to meet his eyes with my own. I had to say it. I've never told him, and this is my last chance.

"Eren, you can't do this to me." He sobs with a sadness that grips what's left of me. "Fuck this."  
His blank face gives way to a look I've never seen before, and even though I'm covered in blood, he leans over me, and presses his lips hungrily to mine.

We smash our mouths together, the movement sending a hot flash of pain throughout my body.  
His lips trail kisses over mine, while his hands hold onto the leather straps at my sides. We relax into each other and enjoy what little time we have. His lips taste like mint, and his fingers feel warm on my cold body. He presses once more before pulling back so we can breath. Theres blood smeared on his mouth and a destroyed look in his eyes. Hopeless. I wasn't just humanity's last hope. I was his.

The screeching and moaning of the titans snaps me back to reality, as they draw near.

"Go." I whisper, my breathing heavy and my mind made up.  
"I-"  
"No. You have to... Ill distract them for you."  
He says nothing this time, searching my face as If to memorize it, then leans back on his haunches.

"I cant let you do that Eren." He says bitterly "I can't do this anymore. People can't die for me anymore. Not you. Not now."  
"Its okay" I croak.  
"I thought you were easy to read, kid." he sighs.  
"You've done enough, its okay captain!"  
"Its not enough when I can't even protect the person I love"  
Its nearly a cry, and I go still, I can no longer reply and I feel my heartbeat slowing.  
"It's too late"

He stands up.  
no.  
His fingers trail on the handle of his sword.  
"I wont be eaten." He mutters  
no.  
my vision starts to blur.  
leave me.  
no, not that.  
He draws his blade, and plunges it deep into his stomach.  
"NO!" I sob out into the cold spring air.  
He wavers, then collapses on his knees next to me. His white shirt turning a dark crimson, his mouth upturned in a snarling smile.

Before the world escapes me, and I fall into the sleep of death, I see him mouth the words "I will find you again"

  
….......…………………..…………………………………………………..….….

I wake up to silence.  
Theres the odd smell of pine in the air again. For some reason, even though I live downtown, I always end up smelling lightly like tree sap.

I roll over and press my face into my pillow. Inhaling then exhaling, letting my shoulders relax. Inexplicably I feel like I had a bad dream, but I cant remember any of it.  
Too bad, It's not like I can force myself to remember.  
After all memories don't come cheap here.

"E"  
Thats all I even remember of my name. But what should I expect.  
This is the after life, you know.

And nobody here remembers anything until it's time. We're all are stuck here looking for our Purpose, unable to start life again, and unable to fade away. I kind of like this existence though, and I don't plan on leaving anytime soon.

We're supposed to figure out what happened when we died, something about dying at the same time as someone else sends you here. The other person is your Purpose, and most spirits scour the globe for their missing half. I'm skepticle though, seen as when people do that they disappear, fading into thin air. Long story short, I don't want to find out what that means for me.

I shift my weight and roll to sit upright on the bed, staring out the window. At least I don't have to shower or anything.

Being a spirit makes you basically immortal. You're only here to walk the human world looking for the other spirit you died with. Sounds like a load of bullshit, but I still keep on guard when I see others.

Looking over my shoulder, I'm reminded of the presence of my friends.  
M and A, have been with me since the beginning and are like family to me. That's another reason I don't want to find my Purpose. I don't want to leave them, and as long as I'm not alone in this way of, well, half-life, I'll be ok.

The two figures are sound asleep, and I don't feel like dealing with an overprotective M right now, so I should probably slip out on my own. Normally, any other spirit would be looking for their Purpose frantically but with my more relaxed schedule theres plenty of time for sleep.  
"Still feels good in the afterlife..." I mumble. At least I remember that.

I slide off the bed, and fumble with the door, before locking it behind me and stepping out onto the fire escape.  
I climb up onto the roof, before stepping casually to the next. Each footfall an impossible leap for a human. As I dance from roof to roof, I see the first glimpse of dawn over a rooftop garden fence, and I cant help but smile, as If I had seen it many times before.


	2. White Noise

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hey, so i wanted to let you guys know that the part spent in the afterlife wont be super long, most of the story takes place in the human world. I just wanted to clear up why the pacing is so fast at the start!

I yawn, as I lumber through the busy street. My body passes through people, when I want it to, so I don't have to weave my way through the crowd as I look for my destination.  
In the corner of my mind I recall A saying this was the place so I scan the shops across the street.  
There it is.  
"Rose Books"  
Being a spirit you find a lot of cash people leave behind, and since we can still interact with objects, we can buy whatever the hell we want. Mostly this is done by leaving money on the counter with a note saying how shy we are and what we took, on our way out. A has been talking non stop about going to this store, so I thought getting him a book would cheer him up after the Jean incident.

His friend (an asshole who didn't know when to shut up) accidentally ran into his Purpose a few weeks ago.  
A was devastated at his disappearance right in front of him, and even I kind of miss him.  
We've been on edge since then, and A hasn't even left the house at all. Theres a rumour that your name stays the same throughout all your lives, so maybe they'll meet again

I step in through the door which is thankfully propped open, otherwise I'd have to wait for a human to go in, and make my way to the back. A has an absurd fascination with geography, so I pick out an old hardcover map book, and a slightly musty novel. The "aged" ones are his favourites. He says It's something about them feeling more real.

I dump a few bills (more than enough to cover the cost) by the register and head out, books in hand.

After a few blocks in the direction of home, I hear something odd. You can sense other spirits through their white noise. Its kind of like having a built in radio in your head. You get the signal from others, whether you like it or not. Ducking into a doorway, I peer cautiously around the corner.

There.

A girl, about my age I assumed, is walking down the street. Her blond hair is tied up in an interesting bun and her face seems stuck in a permanent scowl. weird.  
I wait until she's passed, glad she didn't expect me to come talk to her.  
Although she did seem unusually focused. Like she was looking for something.

I'll have to double-time it back to the apartment so I can tell A and M about her.  
We cant risk having our Purposes find us, so we're constantly on lookout for any other spirits in town.

Whereas with strangers the white noise is a dim static, when you hear your Purpose near you, It's like a tidal wave inside your mind. Apparently M's had a close call before. That's why we moved here anyways. Coming to Sina was the only thing we could do to avoid her meeting them. At least we've been safe for the past while.

Anyways, even if I don't remember my life, I've seen enough of others to know that it's the last thing I want to do again.  
Something was definitely off about that girl.

Approaching the apartment, I climb up the fire escape and hurry through the crappy old door to find A and M both sitting on the bed talking.  
When I shut the door less than gently they jump a little, and get up to meet me.

M flicks me on the nose with a mother like attitude.  
A pang in my stomach.  
"Where were you? We thought you might of found your Purpose!!!" M edges frantically.  
"I just went for a walk and didn't want to wake you guys up, Im fine!"  
"We were really worried about you, E. You know how paranoid we are after Jean..." A mumbles quietly.  
I pat A on the back and flash him a smile.  
"It's really no big deal, plus I wanted to cheer you up!"  
"By sneaking out in the middle of the night?" A looks baffled as he struggles with that concept before I cut him off  
"I found some books at that store you wanted to check out."  
"Really? You didn't have to E!" A sounds hesitant, but I know he's glad I went.  
I pull out the books stashed in my bag, and hand them to him as he beams.  
"These are really old E! I cant wait to find out what's inside!" He seems really moved by my gesture as his thin frame rushes forwards to hug mine.

"Well at least you're ok... I'm guessing then at you didn't run into any others." M sighs.  
"Not quite M, I saw a shady looking chick with blond hair and a resting bitch face downtown."  
I confess.  
"Did she try to confront you?"  
"No, she just walked past me like she was searching for something." I answer.  
I add on "We should be extra-careful for the next few weeks. I can't even guess why she's here, I mean we're the only ones in this town."  
M shifts in her shoes, then gestures to A.  
"We still don't know what kind of person his Purpose is. You were right next to her and the white noise was weak, so she's definitely not yours, but for all we know this could be his."  
A looks freaked out of his mind at the prospect of the disappearance. I don't blame him. Some spirits call it Reaping. A pretty fitting name if you ask me.  
"What if she's yours?"  
"Once you've heard it, you get sensitive to the noise, I would have heard her from here if she was."  
I frown, and shift my gaze over to A, now glad I didn't try and take him with me.

"Then well go talk to her and see what she wants." I suggest.  
M nods in approval.

We take our time walking downtown, nervous that there could be more strangers than we thought. M offers to walk ahead, an I accept. This whole deal is giving me the creeps.  
Once we hit the main business district, we start to hear the white noise assosciated with other spirits.

"She must still be looking..." I observe.  
M leans in and tells me to go to the roof, which I do promptly.  
We need surveillance from above if we're ever going to find her.

Tue wind whips my hair, as I crouch like some of the superhero's the humans seem to like.  
My alert gaze falls on one group of teenagers, then another. I continue to inspect more groups of the kids, before taking a breather.  
Nope.  
She must be alone still. That really narrows things down.

My brow furrows. I can't believe she's this hard to find, I can hear her right-

There.

She's walking close to the street with an equally blond guy. Shit, we really don't need this right now.

I jump down from the fire escape, and hurry to M's side.  
"Found her. She's with a really buff guy."I spill.  
M frowns, then lets her eyebrows relax as she answers. "Well at least we know he's none of ours either."

We saunter down the street, eyes searching for the two fuckers on our turf.  
A small chuckle escapes my lips, Im starting to sound like-  
wait.  
WHO am I starting to sound like??!!  
I let my panic slide, Its probably nothing anyways. Im getting paranoid for no reason.  
Screw memories.

As we approach the place the two should be, we spot them walking towards us.  
NOW she wants to talk.

We move to stand a few steps away from them. And wait for the strangers to introduce themselves.  
They don't.

"Im E, and this is M. We're kind of surprised you guys decided come to this part of town, seen as we're the only ones here.“ Now's not the time to let them know we have A.

The girl is the first one to talk out of he duo.  
"My Letters A..."  
"and I'm R." The built blond finishes.

Short silence, and the tension grows between us. Now we're down to business.  
"Well then, A and R, what do you want from here." I bite, breaking the still.

"What every spirit wants. I'v been looking around for my purpose for, well, Centuries. Narrowed It down to here, kid." She states, seemingly bored.

M tries to get the strangers to back down. “Obviously, you've got it wrong, seen as you're looking at all the spirits in town."

"Am I now..."

M and I pause, does she know???

"I don't know how fresh you guys are, but you probably don't even understand what Purpose is, do you?" She says with a smile.

What is she talking about, of course we do! The afterlife is to console people who die a certain way, and let them be reincarnated with the person they love, their purpose, blah blah blah.

"Cut to the chase, weirdo, why are you still here?" Ive had enough with her bullshit already, and man I feel bad for her Purpose.

"Its alright you two, I been here longer than you think. I just want to take back what belongs to me, and you should stay out of it." She states plainly.

"Well good luck with that." I retort sarcastically. "C'mon M, we should go now."

The blond breaks my gaze with a smirk, and says to the other man. "Us too, R we have unfinished business.

M and I turn around and start speed-walking back to our home base. Scratch the previous theory of them being lost, they're definitely after A.

  
Something was off as soon as we got to the apartment.  
The door was open a crack and there were pillows and tissues everywhere on the floor.  
Spirits don't get sick.

M pushed a few of the strewn objects away with her foot before calling out into the room.  
"A, are you alright??”

A moan carried through the muggy air and soon a frightened looking A slid up from where he was lying down behind the bed.  
His eyes were flicking franticly from side to side and his hair was a knotted mess on top of his head.

"I can hear it. Make it stop!"

 

 

 

 


End file.
